Thursday, 15 June 2017

Tourism: An Extremely Sensitive Industry

Tourism is a very sensitive industry.
It can make or break an economy. Its impact is so huge, it can single-handedly
affect the GDP. A few months back we posted a Blog – “Role of Tourism in Nation Building”, where we discussed how tourism affects different industries. In this
Blog, we will discuss the sensitivity and serious consequences tourism can have
on a country. We will tell you about some incidents and events which damaged
Tourism in some countries. These events not only led to fall in Tourism, but
also in vast scale unemployment. Let’s get started…..

1.The 9/11 Attacks:This was one of the deadliest terrorist
attacks in Human history. The immediate effect included people having fear of
Air Travel, cancellation of new orders to Airbus and Boeing, fall in Tourism
and people avoiding the Middle East.A
lot of jobs were lost in the tourism sector. It had a knock-on effect on other
industries such as Food and Beverage, Retail, Hospitality and Aviation. This
was something very hard to digest. The effect carried on for some years, and
then eventually it improved.

2.Conflict in Kashmir: The Indian
state of Jammu and Kashmir was once called Heaven. It was often compared with
Switzerland. Unfortunately, in the last decade or so, Tourism has declined in this
region. This was due to conflicts between India and Pakistan over Border
control and illegal occupation of some territories. The situation today has
escalated to a point where Tourists fear from visiting the state. This is a
huge dent on Indian Tourism.

3.Malaysia Airlines Twin Disaster:
In 2014, two Malaysia Airline Boeing 777s met with accidents killing over 500
people. Both incidents happened within 4 Months. The first was the mysterious
MH370, and the second was shooting down MH17. These incidents led to fall in
passenger numbers of Malaysia Airlines, and fall in Malaysian Tourism. The
Country is also a stopover hub for passengers between Asia and Australia. This
was a hard one to swallow. The economy has now recovered.

4.Egypt and Turkey scenario: These
two countries enjoyed Tourism, and were benefiting a lot from it. In the last 2
years, tourism here has dropped significantly. This was because there were some
Political tensions within their establishments. Adding insult to the injury
were some terrorist attacks which have damaged their Tourism industry.

5.The ISIS Effect: Today, ISIS is
the biggest threat to humanity. In the last few years, it has carried out
attacks in Africa, Asia and Europe. The attacks on Europe is so severe, that
almost every month a city is struck with an attack. Europe is now slowly losing
its dominance in the Tourism Market. Tourists are looking for other
alternatives now.

6.Greece Financial Crisis: In
2014-2015, Greece suffered a Financial Meltdown. The locals were unable to
withdraw Money from Banks for their daily needs. The country was in great debt.
The country was close to Bankruptcy. This also affected the Tourism in the country.
Although, Greeks were warm towards Tourists, but the crisis led to fall in
Tourism. Thankfully, the situation has now improved with Greece gaining back
its popularity as a Tourist Destination.

These were a few events from
recent history which led to decline in Tourism. There are many more examples
all around the world. The point is to understand their serious consequences. It
is the responsibility of Global leaders to make sure that these situations are
avoided, and necessary steps taken to enhance Tourism in the world. Another
important thing is to capitalise on Places which have the potential of becoming
future Tourist Destinations. This gives you some extra revenue from tourists.